St. Nicholas' Church, known locally as St Nic's, an Anglican parish church, Nottingham. Since 1953 it is Grade II* listed by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport as it is a particularly significant building of more than local interest.
"The original church on the site was there about 1100. It was destroyed in 1643 by the Parliamentarians after being used by the Royalists to bombard the castle. It was rebuilt in 1671-78 of brick and is the only late 17th Century church in the city.
There is a chancel, nave, aisles, vestry, north porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and one bell (formerly two). The east end with flat-headed mullion-and-transom window is dated 1699. Similar windows were once in the nave and transepts. There is a stained glass east window dated 1913.
St. Nicholas’ became fashionable in the 18th Century; the south aisle was added in 1756, the north aisle in 1783, with heavy round-arched windows. There is an arched opening to the chancel, and an 18th Century moulded ceiling. The nave has four-bay Tuscan arcades with stone columns, a round arch into the tower and a gabled timber roof from 1848. There is panelled wainscotting in the chancel where the organ (1848) was re-sited in 1863, when the galleries except one were removed and the 18th Century box pews cut down.
The chancel was largely stripped of fittings in 1979 and the nave in 1991. Hatchments and wall monuments remain, and these are a reminder of St Nicholas’ history as a society church.
The small churchyard contains a few interesting gravestones, eg that of John Attenburrow, the first man in Nottingham to inoculate against smallpox. There is also a Holbrook plaque to Gilbert Wakefield, theologian and scholar."
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"The church is the most significant building of historic interest and aesthetic value in the Broadmarsh area of the city. Its graveyard provides the only area of green space other than the castle grounds elevated on the other side of Maid Marian Way.
St Nics’ location within the city and adjacent to a main thoroughfare exposes it to passing visitors placed as it is like a beacon on one side of the city and ideally situated to play a major part in the proposed development of one of the main shopping centre’s of Nottingham.
St Nicholas in east window, stained glass,St. Nicholas is the Patron of youth, of merchants and of sailors and travellers. It is possible that there might have been some slight connection with sailors or bargemen as St. Nicholas is the nearest church to the Leen, which may have been more navigable in the past. The dedication takes on fresh significance today as the church, in the commercial centre of the city, has an extensive ministry to young people and seeks to help them navigate the complex landscape of the 21st century.
A church of St. Nicholas was erected on the site of the present building soon after the conquest. Originally it seems to have been very like St. Peter’s church in appearance, and was quietly serving as a parish church until 1642. During the English Civil War, Colonel Hutchinson held Nottingham Castle for the Parliament, and was attacked by a body of Newark people acting for the King. They established themselves in the tower of the old St. Nicholas Church, and proceeded to bombard the garrison of the castle with such effect that they were dislodged. Colonel Hutchinson didn’t want to expose his men again and so caused the church to be completely destroyed. Its materials were carted away and used for other purposes. The site of St. Nicholas’ Church remained void and desolate for twenty-five years.
From this time, St. Nicholas’ congregation was given its own space to worship separately in St. Peter’s, until this church too was destroyed in 1644. It is not known what happened to the St. Nicholas’ congregation after that but they undoubtedly remained as a group determined to rebuild St. Nicholas.
In 1671, a fresh start was made and the new church was completed in 1678. It was cruciform in plan and its nave lacked aisles, but it is a typical church of its period. The best view we get of this church is about 1740, in a series of probably Thomas and Paul Sandby plates, prepared for the illustration of Deering’s (Nottingham historian) work. Here we find a west door in the tower approached by four steps, which was then possible, as the west walk was not railed off or sunk below the level of the graveyard.
In 1714 a curious and hidden inscription was found on one of the rafters saying “This Church was burnt and pulled down in 1647 and begun again in 1671.” The Rector and Sexton signed it.
Early in the 18th century as so much room was required for the voluminous skirts of the ladies; spacious square pews were added as were galleries for “the humbler portion of the parishioners”. These pews were removed later and some idea of their woodwork can be gathered from the contemporary paneling which still remains in the chancel. The small organ erected in 1811 was replaced in 1848 by one purchased from the Roman Catholic Chapel in George Street. This necessitated an organ chamber to be built in order to accommodate it. This organ, modernised and rebuilt remained incorporated in the modern organ of the church until April 2009.
White’s directory of Nottinghamshire 1853 states, “St. Nicholas’ Church is a neat, brick edifice ornamented with stone, and like St. Peter’s, shaded by a number of trees. It occupies a pleasant situation to the south side of Castlegate (now Maid Marian Way) whence its large burial ground extends to Chesterfield Street and Rosemary Lane. The building was commenced in 1671, and finished in 1678, on the same site. The present edifice has a light and airy appearance, and has a tower with one bell at the west end. It has a spacious nave and two side aisles. The southernmost of which was much enlarged by subscription in 1756; and a similar extension of the north aisle took place in 1783, when £500 was raised for the purpose. It has since been paved and ornamented with a handsome pulpit, and also a new gallery on the north side. The organ was erected in 1811”."
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